Insider Selling: California Resources (NYSE:CRC) EVP Sells 11,907 Shares

California Resources Corporation (NYSE:CRC) EVP Jay Bys sold 11,907 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.00, for a total value of $642,978.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 159,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,608,896. This represents a 6.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

California Resources Price Performance

Shares of California Resources stock traded down $1.04 on Tuesday, hitting $52.30. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 773,035 shares, compared to its average volume of 910,518. California Resources Corporation has a 52-week low of $43.24 and a 52-week high of $71.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $57.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.76. The company has a market capitalization of $4.64 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.06 and a beta of 0.92.

California Resources (NYSE:CRC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88. The firm had revenue of $119.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $947.50 million. California Resources had a negative net margin of 16.10% and a positive return on equity of 10.12%. The firm’s revenue was down 87.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.07 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that California Resources Corporation will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

California Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. California Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -31.15%.

Institutional Trading of California Resources

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in California Resources by 200.7% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,344,493 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $104,822,000 after acquiring an additional 1,564,866 shares during the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of California Resources by 1,263.4% during the fourth quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 1,590,707 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock worth $71,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,474,037 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of California Resources in the first quarter valued at $62,698,000. Sourcerock Group LLC increased its stake in California Resources by 63.8% in the second quarter. Sourcerock Group LLC now owns 2,000,649 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $91,370,000 after purchasing an additional 779,280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in California Resources by 155.8% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,062,553 shares of the oil and gas producer’s stock valued at $48,527,000 after purchasing an additional 647,190 shares during the last quarter. 97.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CRC shares. Zacks Research lowered California Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 25th. Wall Street Zen downgraded California Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut California Resources from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on California Resources from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on California Resources from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.90.

About California Resources

California Resources Corporation (NYSE: CRC) is an independent exploration and production company focused exclusively on developing oil and natural gas assets in California. Headquartered in Newport Beach, the company engages in hydraulic fracturing, well completions, reservoir management and enhanced recovery operations to produce crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids.

CRC’s operations are concentrated in three core regions: the Los Angeles Basin, the Ventura Basin and the San Joaquin Basin.